Smart TV without main menu ads?

Dr. Flamingo

I've been thinking about picking up a smart TV but a lot of my friends' and family's TVs seem to have large, obtrusive ads right in the main menu. Are there brands left that don't have ads baked right into the UI? Google searching doesn't fill me with much hope. I guess a TV with blockable ads would be a good consolation prize, even if there's large empty spaces where the ads would go.

mRahmani

I think it’s partially dependent on how much money you want to spend. My LG OLED has an option to disable them, though they’re enabled by default. My Panasonic plasma was the same way, but those were both premium TVs. TCL and Roku TVs seem to be the worst offenders.

AkimboEG

If you're comfortable with the tech, Pi-hole can solve this problem for all devices on your home network.

Burtletoy

mRahmani wrote: »

I think it’s partially dependent on how much money you want to spend. My LG OLED has an option to disable them, though they’re enabled by default. My Panasonic plasma was the same way, but those were both premium TVs. TCL and Roku TVs seem to be the worst offenders.

Are we TV twins?

dispatch.o

I just disable the network connection for my Roku TV and then use a chromecast / Google TV. It's silly but honestly I prefer the UI and ease of use on the Google TV anyway.

Drows

I'm using a non-smart tv with a chromecast and streaming everything through that, that does the job with no ads.

Noneoftheabove

I just want to pop into this thread and shake my grumpy fist at advertising and smart TVs with ad space on the UI. Ok, thanks.

Doc

I have a Samsung smart TV that I never connected to the internet, and instead I have a Roku Ultra that I use for streaming.

That_Guy

Might I recommend an Intel NUC for your home media needs. You can run *nix or Windows. They're pretty cheap for what you get and should be more than capable of decoding 4k video streams.